Apple became the first $800 billion company in history this week, as stock rose to a record high yesterday.
In midday trading yesterday, Apple shares rose to $153.70 per share on the Nasdaq. With 5.21 billion shares outstanding, that briefly gave Apple an historic market cap of $801.37 billion.
By comparison, Google parent company Alphabet has a market cap of $657.78 billion, Microsoft of $530.36 billion, and Amazon of $450.96 billion. Apple’s stock prices have been aided by a recent rally on Wall Street, driving shares up 32 percent in the year to date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed 6.3 percent during that same period.
It’s a massive achievement for Apple, and especially impressive coming the week after an arguably disappointing quarterly earnings for Q2 2017, which barely beat Wall Street predictions.
Apple’s mixed earnings report showed strong demand for Apple Watch and AirPods, along with a moneymaking ecosystem and a consistently growing services division. On the downside, iPhone growth has slumped, while Apple is also fending off problems in China.
$800 billion’s not cool. $1 trillion is cool
While $800 billion is a giant valuation, however, not everyone is convinced that it is doing Apple justice. Earlier this week, Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White called AAPL one of “the most under-appreciated stocks in the world,” and said the company should be worth $1 trillion within the year.
In a recent interview, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett also sang Apple’s praises. He said he loves what the company is doing with its buyback program for investors — and isn’t the slightest bit worried about current iPhone sales.
At time of writing, AAPL is trading at $151.14.
Source: Marketwatch
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
4 responses to “Apple briefly became first $800 billion company this week”
Moments ago. AAPL Market cap $827.11B
While $800 billion is a giant valuation, however, not everyone is convinced that it is doing Apple justice. Earlier this week, Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White called AAPL one of “the most under-appreciated stocks in the world,” and said the company should be worth $1 trillion within the year.
Apple’s market cap isn’t really all that large. People keep comparing it to Microsoft’s highest market cap in 1999 with it being adjusted for today’s dollars. I think Apple will have to be about $900B to beat Microsoft. I’d like to see it happen but I’d want it to stay that high and not quickly collapse. The most remarkable thing about Apple’s market cap is that the P/E isn’t all that high. When Amazon reaches that market cap level, the P/E will probably be about 150.